A Step Forward
by divcon
Summary: This is the conversation that I hope happens between Jack and Sam at the beginning of Season 9.
1. Chapter 1

A Step Forward

Lt Colonel Samantha Carter had just arrived in her office to begin what looked like being a busy day when her phone rang. Tempted not to answer but that whoever was phoning already knew she was there. So she picked up the phone with a scowl on her face.

"Yes."

"Col Carter, General O'Neill would like to see you in his office in five minutes."

"Okay, I'll be there. Thank you Sgt."

As she made her way up to his office Sam wondered what could be so important. SG1 weren't due to go off-world for another week. Teal'c was on Chu'lak and Daniel was where. She didn't really know where he was, but Daniel being Daniel, was probably off researching some artifact somewhere.

After knocking and entering his office, Jack tells her to take a seat. He looks very intensely at her as if he doesn't really know what to say but eventually he begins.

"Sam…"

Sam's head snaps up. "Sir?"

"Yes Sam, please let me finish. The reason I asked you in is because I wanted to tell you personally that I'm leaving the SGC."

"WHAT! B-but you love the SGC, why?' Sam asked in a shocked voice.

"Well, there are a few reasons." He said and started ticking them off on his fingers.

"One, I feel that I can do more for the SGC from the Pentagon. Two, I've stipulated that if I take this transfer I can choose who my replacement will be. The last reason is for selfish and personal reasons."

"Sir, no one could ever call you selfish."

"Thank you Sam."

There was her name again. What was going on? Oh God, what if he was ill?"

"So, do you want to hear my third reason?"

Sam nodded even as she voiced her answer.

"Well ever since Kerry and I went our separate ways, I've been re-evaluating my life and I came to a conclusion." Jack stopped talking, trying to figure out how best to continue. He lowered his eyes to his desk and continued.

"I've decided that at this time in my life I should be enjoying my life with a woman at my side. A strong, smart, beautiful woman with whom I've been in love with for years."

When he finished, Jack raised his eyes to look at a shocked Sam.

"You're doing this for me?"

"No Sam, I'm doing this for us. That is, if you want there to be an us?"

"Of course I do."

"Well then, do you have anything to say to me?"

"Wha…, oh yeah. I love you too Sir."

"Sam, you can call me Jack when you say that."

Sam blushed. "Yes Jack." It sounded weird to hear his name on her lips. Of course she'd been calling him Jack for years but only in her dreams.

"I love you Jack."

Jack looked into the briefing room to make sure that no-one was around. Standing up, he closed the corridor door and went to take Sam into his arms. Finally, he brought his lips to hers in a kiss that was years in the making. It started off soft and gentle but then his passion for this woman overtook him and he deepened the kiss. Sam fell in love with him all over again.

Finally, they broke apart.

"How about dinner tonight?"

"Oh yes, but Jack I don't know if I can wait that long."

"Oh, me neither, but until everything goes through with my transfer we still have regs. to follow."

"When?"

"Only about two weeks. I've already chosen my replacement. He's already going through the required security checks and briefings."

"Jack, I am so happy."

"Me too Sam, me too."

With another brief kiss Jack sent Sam back to her lab with both of them thinking of the night to come.


	2. Chapter 2

The First Date

Jack pulled up in Sam's driveway suddenly feeling like a school boy again.

"This is silly." he thought "I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. This is right."

He opened the car door and walked towards Sam's front door. Before he raised his hand to knock, he ran his fingers through his hair and straightened his tie. He only had to wait a few seconds after his knock before Sam opened the door.

"Sam must be as excited as I am." He thought.

"Hi Jack, right on time as usual."

Jack was dumbstruck, Sam looked gorgeous and man, she had great legs, shown off perfectly in the little black dress she had on.

"Jack, are you all right?"

"You're beautiful." He blurted out.

Sam blushed a pretty shade of pink.

"Thank you Jack. Are they for me?"

"Wha… oh yes, here you go." With that he handed her a dozen roses.

Sam inhaled the scent of the roses and turned to put them into a vase.

"Aren't we going?" Jack asked.

"Yes Jack, but I want to put these in water first. Come in for a second.

Once the flowers were put into a vase she turned and looked at Jack who was looking at the pictures on the mantel. Sam took her time. He looked so different tonight, handsome in a civilian suit with a tie and all. She knew it was for her, he hated wearing ties. The only time he did was when eh was required to wear his dress blues. She suddenly realized that Jack was talking to her.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"When was this photo taken?"

Sam took the photo from Jack's hands and smiled at the image. "It was taken about 6 months before Mum died. We were so happy then. You know, Dad once told me that if he had to do it all over again, even knowing how it ended, he wouldn't change a thing. He loved Mum so much and now they're together again."

"Yeah, Jacob once talked to me about his love for you Mum. He told me not to let ANYTHING stand in the way of that type of love, no matter what. Today I finally took his advice and it was the best decision of my life."

"Oh Jack, I love you."

Sam leaned into Jack's arms and gave him a tender kiss."

"Come on, we've got dinner reservations."

"OK, let me get my coat."

Once they were seated at the restaurant and had placed their orders, Jack took Sam's hand across the table and lifted his glass in a toast.

"To new beginnings."

Sam raised her glass to her smiling lips and took a sip.

"You know when everything is finalized I have a month off before I have to start at the Pentagon. I'm sure I could get General Landry to approve leave for you as well. What do you think; do you want to go away with me?"

"I'd love nothing better. But…"

"What's bothering you Sam?"

"What about Daniel and Teal'c?"

"You want them to come with?"

Laughing Sam replies, "No Jack, I don't want them to come." It was only then that she noticed the twinkle in his eyes. She laughs out loud and shakes her head.

"I meant, when can we tell them about us? I hate having to keep it a secret from them."

"Not until the paperwork goes through. I just can't ruin your career by letting anything slip before then. Anyway, the guys are away all this week, so it's really only one week anyway. Although I don't think that they'll be that shocked when we tell them. Both Danny and the T-man have made comments to me in the past about the closeness of our friendship. As soon as everything is finalized we'll have them, Cassie and General Hammond, if he can make it, over to my place for a cook-out and tell them all at once.

"I like that plan Jack."

At that moment both of their phones started to ring.

"It's the SGC. Looks like duty calls again." Replied Jack "Who's calling you/"

Sam looked at her display "Daniel." Flipping open her phone she started talking "Hello Daniel. No it's fine, I'm just having dinner." Holding Jack's hand, Sam gave him a lopsided grin and answered "its fine, I'll come in. I'll be there in about 30 minutes, see you then."

Daniel says SG4 bought something back from PX4-296 that he wants me to look at 'right away', so I'm sorry but I need to go."

"Sam, it's OK, we both know how important these thing are. I'm needed there as well. Grab your coat and I'll take you home."

When they reached Sam's house Jack grabbed her hand before she left the car.

"I had a great time tonight Sam. Same time tomorrow?"

"OK but this time I'll cook."

"You cook? I thought you burnt water."

"Yes I cook but for that comment I might just feed you MRE's."

"Whatever you give me will be fine as long as I'm with you."

"I love you Jack."

"I love you too Sam."

With that he gave her a kiss that curled her toes.

"See you soon."

"Bye Jack."


	3. Chapter 3

The Next Step

"Finally." Jack sighed. Everything was done he was no longer the commander of the SGC. He had mixed feelings now that it was done. He felt sad to be leaving a big part of his life behind and ecstatic to be starting this part of his life with Sam. At the end of the day he would be able to take Sam in his arms and he wouldn't be breaking any of the Air Forces' regulations. He had lived and died by the same regulations for so long that the last two weeks of secret meetings with Sam were starting to wear on him.

Meanwhile, down in her lab Sam was going through similar feelings. I would be so strange for her not to see Jack around the SGC every day but she had the consolation of having Jack around all the time outside the SGC. Letting a smile play on her lips Sam remembered everything that had happened over the last two weeks. Long walks in the park near her house, day trips out to his cabin just to sit and talk on his dock at the lake pretending to enjoy fishing. And the nights. The nights were the best. Jack was the most attentive lover, taking her to places she had never been before then holding her through the night. She would miss him so much when he was in Washington but he'd be home every weekend that she wasn't off-world. How did she get so lucky to have a man give up something he loved dearly to just be with her? She would show him every day how much that meant to her, hopefully until they were both old and grey and sitting in their rocking chairs laughing at something their grandkids had just done. She would have to make sure that she came back to him after every off-world mission.

"O'Neill, may I come in?'

"Sure Teal'c, pull up a chair."

"To where would you like me to pull it?"

"Never mind." It was then that Jack saw Teal'c's face. "Oh you made another joke. Very good Teal'c, keep practicing."

"Indeed. O'Neill, I wish to say goodbye to you. It has been an honor to serve with you. You are a great warrior and a true friend, I shall miss you."

"Hey T, It's not like I won't be seeing you again. I'm only going to Washington, we'll still be able to get together and go fishing."

Teal'c raised that eyebrow of his and said nothing else. He took Jack's arm in a traditional Jaffa handshake and bowed his head then turned and walked away.

Jack was sitting at his desk packing away his personal items wondering when Daniel would come to see him. He didn't have long to wait, glancing up he saw Daniel crossing the briefing room headed straight for his office. Before Daniel even raised his hand to knock Jack was calling him into the office.

"Hey Jack."

"Yes Daniel?'

Daniel sunk down into one off the chairs in front of Jack's desk.

"I can't believe you finally did it. After all this time and everything you've seen, you can just walk away?"

"Daniel, I'm not walking away, just taking a sideward step. It's something I need to do."

Daniel just sat there and stared at him, not knowing how to voice the thoughts that were rolling around in his head. He was remembering the very first time he met Jack. He knew straight away that Jack had no time for him and that he was only on that mission to Abydos because he was the only one who could figure out the glyphs to get them home. He hoped that at the end of that mission they had helped each other. He knew that Jack had helped him and he was forever grateful for everything Jack had done for him over the last eight years. Just as he'd gathered he thoughts enough to voice them Jack spoke.

"I know Daniel, who'd thought all that time ago that we would actually like one another. I just have one request. Don't go off and get yourself killed again, you know I'm not a member of the Oma fan club and I want you around for a long time space monkey."

Daniel just smiled and nodded his head. That was Jack, quick with a joke to cover his true feelings. Daniel stood up, nodding his head and headed out of Jack's office. As he reached the door he heard Jack say.

"See you on Sunday and don't be late."

Daniel turned and looked at Jack, "I won't be late. I'm bringing Cassie and she'll skin me alive if I'm even a minute late. Please tell me you're not cooking."

"No Daniel I'm not cooking, you are."

"No seriously, who's cooking?"

"Gen. Hammond is cooking Daniel so you can rest easy. You will have edible food to eat.

Daniel was sure he could hear Jack laughing all the way down to the gate room. He really had a twisted sense of humor.

The day had been perfect. As he sat there and watched his friends, and they were his friends, sitting and talking to each other Jack realized how fortunate he was. He looked for Sam and smiled when he caught sight of her. She and Cassie were laughing over something funny that he was sure only a woman would understand. Just then Sam looked up and smiled. God he loved that smile. When she raised her eyebrows Jack nodded his head. She excused herself and made her way over to him.

Jack stood and sent to meet her halfway. When they reached each other Jack cleared his throat.

"Can I have everyone's attention? I brought you all here today so I, I mean we, could make an announcement. Now that I am no longer her CO, Sam and I have decided to finally make a commitment to each other. We've waited for eight years for our time to come and now that it's here we wanted to share it with our friends."

Cassie squealed and leapt to her feet. Just as she was about to race over and hug Sam when Jack raised his hand and said

"Wait a minute Cassie, there's more."

At this Sam looked at Jack with confusion. Jack slowly turned to Sam and with one hand holding hers and the other in his pocket Jack kneeled before her.

"Sam, in front of our friends, I want to ask you 'Will you marry me Samantha Carter?'"

With that, Jack presented Sam with a beautiful 1 carat square cut diamond solitaire ring. Sam stared at Jack and then the ring dumbfounded. She was speechless.

"Say yes Sam." screamed Cassie.

"Put the man out of his misery Sam." whispered Daniel.

"Indeed Colonel Carter, what is to be your answer." inquired Teal'c.

"Sam, don't leave Jack down on one knee for much longer or he won't be able to get back up." chuckled George.

Looking around at her friends with tears in her eyes and love and laughter in her heart she turned back to look at Jack.

"Of course I'll marry you. You are the man of my dreams, the love of my life. The one person who makes my life complete."

With tears in his eyes this time, Jack placed the ring on her finger and kissed her to the sounds of their friends clapping and cheering.

2 YEARS LATER

Jack silently walked into the darkened hospital room. He smiled in wonder at the woman who lay on the bed sound asleep. She deserved it. Next to the bed were two of those hospital baby cribs, Jack looked at his new son and daughter with awe. Sam had given him the chance to be a father again. The next generation of the O'Neill's had arrived.

THE END.


End file.
